Machine for making spikes



(No Model.)

H. W. FOWLER.

Machine for Making Spikes. No. 241,641. Patented May 17, 188i.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERVEY WV. FOIVLEB, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR MAKING SPIKES.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 241,641, dated May 17, 1881.

i Application filed February 18, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that I, Hnnvnv W. FOWLER, of Chicago, in the countyof (look and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvem cuts in the Manufacture of Spikes, and in machinery employed therein and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of myinvention.

The main feature of my invention consists in a novel method of manufacturing spikes. Said method essentially involves as a part thereof, first, the use of a continuous rod or bar of metal ofsuch weight and dimensions as will produce from a given length of rod or bar an aggregate length of spike substantially equal to double the length of the rod or bar 5 and, secondly, the continuous successive rolling of the spikes from point to head and detaching the same from. the bar. The use of a continuous rod or barin spike-makin g is not broadly new with me, such having been heretofore worked, not only in rolling spikes from head to point, but also from point to head; but in all prior cases of continuous rolling the rod or bar has not been substantially proportioned to the spikes produced, as above indicatedby me, thereby necessitating in those cases an elongation of the spike-head beyond the 'original sectional dimensions of the bar or rod,:either 'by' bending or upsetting, or both; :Both of these'methods, as heretofore practiced, necessarily result in a head which is V-shaped at its outer or bearing point, and such a head is therefore not only weak from deficiency in metal, but also weak from the derangement of the fiber of the metal incident to bending or upsetting to form the V-shaped head. By using a bar or rod which is double the weight of a corresponding length of spike my spike-heads are formed withoutbending or upsetting, because after the point and shank of the spike are formed there is next presented to the rolls a mass of 1 metalwhich requires merely to be molded or pressed'so as to fill the die, which imparts to the head its requiredform, and leaves the outer end of the head full strong and practically square on its endface, instead of V- shaped and weak, as heretofore.

The use of a bar of metal capable of producing a spike-head without upsetting or bending the metal is not broadly new with me, for such bars in short lengths have heretofore been used in connection with intermittent bed-rolling,

which I distinctly disclaim as a part of my method, because that economy which accrues from rapidity of operation and butlittle handling of the rod or bar and the utilization of heat contained in a rod or bar asit leaves the last set of rolls in a rolling-mill constitutes largely the essence of practicability, and such economy can only be obtained bycontinuous rolling. In each of the prior methods indicated the finished spikes were cut from the bar.

, With this consideration of the prior state of the art in spike-rollin g, I will be readily understood when I state that my novel method of manufacturing spikes consists in the continuous rolling of spikes from point to head from a continuous bar or rod of metal which is ca} pable of aii'ording in the aggregate substantially double or more than double its length in finished spikes. The form of this rod or bar is also important for attaining the best results as, for instance, a spike having a shank halfinch square, five inches long from crown of head to point, and a head one inch long, projecting one-half inch to the one side of the neck,

and laterally, projecting one-eighth of an inch from each side of the neck and three-eighths of an inch by one-half inch on its end face, is formed by my method from a rod orJoar onehalf inch thick, (the width of the shill-1K3 one and one-eighth inch wide, (one-eighth inchgreater than the length of the head,) andjabout two and one-half inches long, but preferably a-little less. I therefore get a shank heavily condensed by rolling'the metal from one and oneeighth inch down to one-half an inch,which is a result never before accomplished in spike making by rolling, and I also get a head,without bending or upsetting, which is full at both its ends and heavily projected at its sides, (for claw-pulling.) which is also a result never before accomplished by continuous rolling.

My spikes are also practically ffinlessfbecause I employ dies which are practically solid as compared with prior dies having one side thereof movable and automatically moved to release the finished spike, and although my spikes have long full heads, they are discharged from the practically solid dies by means of automatic clearers or plungers, which at the proper moment eject the finished spikes.

I am aware that various automatic ejectin g devices have heretofore been employed for displacing articles formed in and upon revolving dies, as in machines for heading bolts, making horseshoes, &c.; but I know of no prior combination of such devices with spike-forming rolls, and no prior spike-making rolls known to me required such clearing devices, because prior spike-heads made by rolling were V- shaped and comparatively short, and there fore were capable of self-clearance from rolls having dies with movable sides, as heretofore.

The spike-making machinery devised by me will be fully hereinafter described, and the novel features thereof will be specially designated in the several claims hereunto annexed.

. Spikes produced by my method and by the means next described possess certain readily recognized characteristics of moreorless value, and such spikes, considered as an improved article of manufacture, will be made the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent.

Referring to the drawings, Figurel is a front view of myimproved machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same through one set of dies on line a, Fig. 1 Fig. 3 is avertical central section of the same on the line of the axes of the rolls. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the lower roll on line a, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detached sectional view of a cutting and forming die and a portion of the periphery of the upper roll. Fig. 6 is a similarly-(letached view of dies in the upper and lower rolls as oooperating for cutting and forming a spikehead. Fig. 7 is a side view of a detached plunger which forces the finishedspike from the die. Fig. 8 represents aspike produced in accordance with my invention.

In'the drawings, A and B represent a pair ofrolls mounted in a suitable housing, O,which need not be especially described.

The male dies aare arranged on the periphery' of the upper roll, A, and the female dies 1) are arranged upon the lower roll, B, to correspond with dies to, both series running around the respective rolls. The dies on the lower roll are rectangular in cross-section for forming the shank of the spike, and at one end there is a deep matrix, 2;, for the reception of the metal in forming the full square end of the head 07, as shown in Fig. 8. At the opposite end of each die I; it is inclined outward, as at W, for co-operating with a similarly-inclined projection, M, on the dies or of the upper rolls in forming the point and cutting ofi the spike. The face a of the diea co-operates with the corresponding side of the matrix I), as seen in Fig. 6, in confining the metal during the forcing of the same into said matrix in forming the head.

The dies b,instead of having movable sides, as heretofore, are practically solid. The rolls are geared as shown, so that they revolve in exact time with each other and in the directions indicated by the arrows shown, so that in operation each spike isrolled from pointto head.

The rolls are internally recessed, and on a stationary shaft, D, extending nearly through the lower roll, is a fixed cam, E, for each series of dies, provided with a cam-groove, e, in one of its faces.

A series of plungers, F, are set in the rollers, the outer end,f, of which passes through the periphery of roll B into the bottom of the matrices b in the dies I), and the inner end of which is provided with a tail-piece,f, entering the cam-groove and traveling therein as the rolls revolve, thereby projecting and retracting the plungers at the proper points.

As hereinbefore indicated, I am aware that clearing-plungers have heretofore been employed in connection with heading-dies in boltmachines, and that such plungers have been advanced and retired by a cam substantially as used by me. In such machines the plungers act not only as clearers, but also as abutments for the small end of a bolt during the upsetting operation at the other end of the bolt for forming the head. In my machine the outer ends of the clearing-plungers constitute the bottom of the head-forming die, against which the metal is forced, and by which the outer end of the spike-head is formed. So far as my knowledge extends, I am the first to employ a practically solid matrix-die for forming spikes, and the first to produce a head with a square end proportioned in sectional area to the sectional area of the shank, substantially as shown, and the first to combine with spike-forming dies any mechanism by which the finished spikes may be positively ejected.

As hereinbefore indicated, spike-machines of two kinds have heretofore embodied two rolls forcontinuously rolling spikes from a 0011- tinuous bar. In one class of said prior ma-' chines the spikes were rolled from head to point, instead of from point to head, as in my machine, and instead of my practically solid matrix-dies, those formerly used had movable sides for releasing the finished spike, which had a V-shaped head, instead of a head with a full square end, as with my spikes. In the second class of prior machines referred to each spike is rolled from point to head 5 but instead of head-forming. matrices there were in such machines rolls provided with projecting dies, which bent and upset a portion of metal to form a head, simultaneously cutting off and pointing the next succeeding spike.

As I seek to produce, as illustrated in the spike shown in Fig. 8, a longer, stronger, and better shaped head than was ever heretofore obtained by a rolling operation, it is essential,

in accordance with the main feature of my invention, that the bar G, from which the spikes are made, should have a sectional area about equal to or greater than the horizontal sectional area of the head of the spike desired in the line indicated at d, Fig. 8, and a bar prop erly proportioned to the sectional area of the finished shank, so as to secure the presentation to the head-forming die of sufficient metal from which to form the head without upsetting, and will yield an aggregate length of spike which will be practically double the length of the bar,.as before herein set forth. Such a bar, properly heated as it comes from the last pass of a rolling-mill, on being introduced to the rolls, is engaged by the dies and a portion of the metal drawn out from the bar, the point cutting and forming dies cutting off the initial stub, and, commencing upon a spikepoint, continue in their rotation, drawing out the metal to form the shank until the head is reached, the next succeeding pointcutting and forming dies having meantime engaged with opposite edges of the bar and cut into the same, and confining between their front sides or faces and the bite of the rolls just enough metal to fill the matrix I) and to leave said metal in substantially its normal condition, as in the bar, and proportionably strong, instead of being weakened by being bent and upset, as in prior machines for continuously rolling spikes from point to head from a continuous bar having a sectional area but little, if any, greater than the sectional area of the shanks of the spikes thereby produced.

It will, ofi course, be understood that severalpasses or separate series of dies may be provided on each pair of rolls, although but two are shown in Fig. 1.

I deem it all important that the rod or bar used be in sectional area substantially equal to or greater than the horizontal sectional area of the finished spike-head, and capable of pro ducin g substantially double or more than double its length of finishedspike; and although rods may be used to advantage capable of producing spikes aggregating in length alittle less than double the length of the rod, I will limit myself for a minimum to rods which are one-half wider than their thickness,because, so far as my knowledge extends, the rods heretofore used in making upset and bent headspikes by continuous rolling from point to head have either been square or, at the most, onequarter larger oneway than the other in crosssection, and for a maximum I limit myself to rods which are thrice larger one way than the other. 7

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The method of manufacturing spikes, sub stantially as hereinbefore described, by the continuous rolling of spikes from pointto head from a bar or rod of metal which is substan' tially equal to or greater in sectional area than the horizontal sectional area of the head of the finished spike, and capable of affording in the aggregate substantially double or more than double its length in finished spikes.

2. The combination of a spike-roll provided with dies for shaping and cutting the points of the spikes, a co-operative roll provided with dies for shaping and cutting the points, and deeply-recessed dies for forming and laterally developing the heads, and for forming the shank and gearingwhich drives said rolls with the point-cutting dies in advance of the headforming dies, for rolling each spike from point to head, substantially as described. 3. The combination, with the two rolls, of the series of practically solid dies forformin g spikes and the automatic plungers for forcing the finished spikes from the dies, substantially as described.

, HERVEY W. FOWLER. Witnesses:

ALICE HOLLISTER, W. G. Counties. 

